Depth of Field
Ok this subject is kicking my butt. Any pointers with the depth of field will be saweet. I was practicing making an object close in focus, and the objects behind it out of focus. This is harder than in looks. I tried with the bunny and rabbit. I opened up my FStop to 2.8 and a shutter speed of about 2 I think. I got it with the chair, but the bunny/cat is another story. I set my conversion to wide. (Which brings up another question) Does the wide and Tele conversion only make a difference if I have that type of lense? Has anybody come up with any ideas, or quick refrence techniques that can help my brain visualy understand this subject more?
Ok back to practicing.......:scratch
Ok back to practicing.......:scratch
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I'm assuming that you want shallow DOF (depth of field) and for the most part you did get that on the bunny/cat photo. Notice that from the bunny's bum to the window is the "in focus" part, with the foreground up to the bunny's bum is slightly blurred. So by using a a wide aperture (F2.8) you were able to show some DOF. In this case, all you need to do is work on the primary point of focus.
It is likely that your camera is selecting some point in the distance as the main point of focus. So if your desire is to have BOTH that cat and bunny in focus and everything else slightly out of focus, you will need to try to focus the camera on a mid point between the cat & bunny (that's because the DOF will allow objects slightly closer and slightly farther than your focus point to be "in focus").
I'm not familiar with your camera, but assuming that it focuses on the centre of your view finder, you can likely do the following:
1. Point the camera at the "mid point" discussed above. It might be the front edge of the bunny, a spot on the rug, etc. Gently press your shutter release until the camera is able to focus on the "mid point" . It will probably beep or give you some kind of feedback that it has "focused".
2. Don't let your finger up! Recompose the photo if required and push the shutter release. What you've effectively done is "pre-focused" your camera to a set distance to control your depth of field but framed the picture elsewhere!
The other option is to manually focus if available on your camera.
Depth of Field is also hard to achieve using a wide angle lens, so to maximize your DOF on your shots, zoom out and open the lens as wide as possible. And if your shutter speed is too slow, use a tripod. It's that simple:D .
You've already got the idea, just practice on what you want to be in focus!
Regards,
Brad
www.digismile.ca
What, in particular, do you want to have in focus? To me, the front object is fuzzy, the second object is sharp. This means the window and blinds behind it will be slightly fuzzy, but not terribly so. Get that first object sharp, then the blinds are further away, and thus get fuzzier. But 2.8 might not be wide enough.
In a nutshell,
* wide angle has more depth of field than telephoto
* blurry backgrounds are easiest when the subject is closer to you than when the subject is closer to the background.
* small image sensors have more depth of field than large image sensors (i.e. point-and-shoots have more DOF than a Rebel, which has more DOF than a 1Ds).
A former sports shooter
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Let me know if I have an eye for this stuff..Or I need to buy a new one...I'm just starting out in this wonderful new hobby of mine, and for a beginner I would like to know if I am on the right track...Just give it to me straight..I can handle it I'm a Marine.
Thanks in Advance
1st picture the orignal.
When I look at the data sheet for that series I see that they are consumer camera with specs that include:
Focal Length: f=6.0-72mm (35mm equivalent: 35-420mm)
Aperture: F2.8 - F8
The DoF is really contrained by the focal length and the lower 1/2 of that 6-72 range is not going to blur much background not matter how wide open you are. The 35mm equivalents given tell us that the imager is a quite small consumer imager and the max aperture of f8 drives that home. Max apertures are an indication of the optical limits set by diffraction. Medium format cameras frequently stop down to f64, 35mm cameras to f22 or f32. On consumer digicams your f8 is common. DoF is one of the important camera differences that is impacted or controlled by the size of the imager and the resultant physical diameter of the optics.
Since I am beeing chewed by alligators getting ready for my Asian trip tomorrow, I will leave it to others to point you to good tutorials, but here is one.
As an aside... This thread should probably not be here in the pro camera forum. From a practical standpoint it does not really matter much though.
Operating System Design, Drivers, Software
Villa Del Rio II, Talamban, Pit-os, Cebu, Ph
IMO, you should tone down the blur and graduate it (somehow make more blur in the far places and less blur in the near places)
IMO, a trick I do might work better and that is to let the rest of the photograph go a bit darker, the lady a bit lighter. Not dramatically, not so it would be obvious, but just enough, a tad, to make the lady stand out more than the background.
IMO, if you were to do it in color as you did show us how you adjusted for it, it is a bit too saturated. In particular the green, I would desaturate the green and the yellow quite a bit, and with the lady I would desaturate her just a tad. I use the saturate/hue/lightness adjustment thing to do this. At the top there is a pull down for different colors so you can control them individually.
That is without going into a lot more detail. If you are going with the black and white, I would try letting the area not near the lady go darker. I have ways of doing that, if you want to know more let me know. Or have someone else tell you.
Right now the blur looks fake, if you really want blur, lessen it a bit, or more.
ginger
I really like the picture, if not I wouldn't have played with it. You took a very good picture.
I saturated the woman a bit to bring out the colors in the bag and all. Then I darkened everything around her, not so much that there were lines showing where I had done it, but enough to make her stand out. Then I blurred just a bit, the number was like 2 with a gaussein blur. I did that only with the area to the right of the tree where it looked further back.
I went ahead and posted the photo I worked on to see what it looks like and to show you what I thought would be a good thing to try for in this photo. Just blurring a lot, well, it looks so fake, IMO.
ginger
Thanks for the tips a little more than I was looking for, but it works...I'm going to play around with it again...
Thanks.
in my opinion
see, I (in) M (my) O (opinion), it means that I might, could be, wrong. That it is just my humble opinion. (It is a way of not being yelled at as being wrong as it is only my opinion) I forgot to tell you that I also used "selective colors found under adjustments". I used it to help make everything behind the bench darker.
I used to use color to make something stand out, too, as you are doing. I haven't done it lately, I don't know why. But I think black and white is more effective in this photograph.
ginger
Were you in Macro mode? If you were only three inches away, you'd need to be.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Nah. I'd do apertrue priority (Av) mode and learn there. Focus on the aperture setting you need, based on the depth of field you want. Pay attention to the shutter speed the camera then selects. Learn by setting one aspect manually, and watching the camera set the other aspect accordingly.
A former sports shooter
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Aperture priority mode does a great job on this camera. I have one myself. I tried to shoot in full manual when possible. The live histogram was a huge help. I'd suggest turning it on, if you are not using it already.
I use Aperture priority when shooting street scenes and need quick reflexes to get the shot before it was gone.
Dave
http://www.lifekapptured.com (gallery)
Welcome,
Thanks for letting me know your a Marine. I'll type slow and use little words for ya...:D
Do you have any eye for this stuff? Who knows, too soon to tell. More important waht do you think?
I am just beginning as wll but have a few months on you.
I think this whole thing boils down to a combination of Camera equipment, digital darkroom stuff, creativity, and desire. Each will provide their advantages and / or limits. Work within the limits, maxamize the advantages, and push both a little.
This is a very good place. Friendly, as well as a lot of talent and experience present.
Treat the camera shutter button just like a trigger to avoid camera shake. (Blurry photos)
Oh and with a camera you can shoot the same thing over and over again.
Sam
Yabbut, for 3 inches away, you need to be in macro. You can still do manual settings, but it changes the way the lens works.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I was out practicing today. I think I am getting the hang of the DOF concept.
I shot these all in the AP setting.